Bufo nebulifer (Picture heavy)

[SludgeMunkey]

After an interesting day of no sleep and a bit of activity that has fully restored my faith in the United States Postal Service...

I present to you two of my newest additions to the critter zoo:

Bufo nebulifer, The Costal Plains Toad (Formerly Bufo valliceps, the Gulf Coast Toad)

Here are some shots of one of the males:






And here are some shots of one of the females:




And just for comparison, here are Profile shots of each, male on the left:




I am very excited about these animals. Those copper-red-gold leaf eyes just blow my mind! The females especially are pretty mellow. I did not even have to use my acrylic photo box while taking these pictures. All of them were more than happy to eat a tong offered silkworm within hours of arrival. the male even left me a HUGE "present" which is now at my Vet's for a fecal.

Rain is in the forecast here, I have built an enclosure (outdoors, as they call rather loud....as my wife discovered while I was at work last night...) to take advantage of this. Ultimately my plan is to try my hand at captive beeding them.

Currently they are in quarantine in what is now known as the "Critter Room Annex". I suspect I may downsize the "warm" room a bit and build a "rain room" for my Anura.

[Kerry1968]

Beautiful eyes on those toads. I love the picture you have chosen for your avatar.

[SludgeMunkey]

I haven't figured out how to photograph the dorsal crests on the heads to do them justice. They are very reptilian. It invokes that glee I felt as a kid obsessed with dinosaurs.

Interesting to note too, is the lack of cornified pads on the hid feet for digging like I am so used to seeing on the local critters.

That, and they are BIG. I have not seen toads this size since I lived in Pennsylvania back in the late 80s.

[John]

I'm glad they made it alright (I sent these to Johnny). The photos are very good Johnny. They are large but on Monday last week I saw bigger females and males. They do seem to make a good pet toad though - not nervous little things like the Texas Toads I have now.

[SludgeMunkey]

They get bigger!?!?!

Excellent!

The one male (pictured) is a talkative little chap. I forgot and left my drip/rain system timer on yesterday after testing it. The wife was not amused at 2am. The toads must have liked it though, there was muddy little foot prints all over the sides of their temporary quarters.


The taxonomy change has made what appears to be somewhat scant information even harder to find. I figure I will follow the "Rules of Toad" and all will be good.

[John]

What would you like to know? These guys aren't big on digging and they like to live in wooded areas (though they can get by without trees). Their range is generally humid and warm during much of the year. At night they like to get into natural or artificial refuges (Nate Nelson tells me they find these all the time in water meters in Fort Worth). They breed all summer long, unlike the several arid species of Bufo.

[SludgeMunkey]

Aye, was reading that they have been found at heights of 15 feet up in tree-holes. Mine currently have PVC hides, but they still seem to partially bury themselves. I have to go get some leaf litter tomorrow morning, from what I have found that will make them a bit more comfortable.

The outdoor enclosure is almost finished. I have to go to the DIY store tomorrow also to get the remaining materials. I worry about raccoons and possums here.

[Kurt]

The taxonomy change has made what appears to be somewhat scant information even harder to find.

Try Ollotis nubilifer.
http://taxonomicon.taxonomy.nl/Taxon...search=ollotis*

[John]

Try Ollotis nubilifer.
http://taxonomicon.taxonomy.nl/Taxon...search=ollotis*

That's one I definitely don't accept - no maybe in there.

[Kurt]

Why is that?

[John]

Bufo alvarius and Bufo nebulifer look totally alien to each other - I don't see how they could be removed from Bufo and lumped together.

[Kurt]

They were lumped together under Bufo. Interesting to note that coniferus and the extinct periglenes are also currently found in the genus of Ollotis.

[John]

They were lumped together under Bufo.

I thought you might say that. It is one thing to change an old taxonomic lumping but completely another to lump obviously not closely allied species in a "new" genus. Someone needs to publish something solid to deal with this chaos caused by Frost.

[Kurt]

You can always write a strongly worded letter to Frost or we can go visit him at the AMNH in NYC.

[Ebony]

He he...you guys do this allot..dont you. He He, you crack me up

[John]

Yes we do. To my eye, Kurt tends to accept anything published in a journal as being gospel. Myself, I am a career research scientist and I know better :P. Especially when many authorities aren't swallowing these proposed name changes - and that's all they are Kurt, proposed - they mean nothing if most zoologists don't accept them and use them.

Addition: Further to my last point, this paper has been out for 3 years now and Amphibiaweb is still towing the old line, as are many others. I think that says something.

[Kurt]

I see your point very clearly and I respect it. Do I agree with it? Part of me does, but then part of me doesn't. I am kind of on the fence. To me it makes sense that a genus like Bufo should be broken up to some degree and maybe you can agree with that statement. If I am understanding you, you just disagree with Frost's proposal? Hyla and Dendrobates were also broken up and I support the changes to Hyla even more. With Dendrobates I am on the fence.

Its funny how this all started. Johnny stated he was having a tough time finding info on Bufo nebulifer, so I suggested he try searching using the "new" name Ollotis nebulifer. Never meant to start an argument with John.

[John]

I think of it as a constructive debate!

[SludgeMunkey]

LOL!


These constructive debates are a good thing, I always seem to learn something from them.

I have searched around using both names, but what I have found so far seems to be pretty much all the same stuff. I haven't had time to go through scientific papers yet though. (Starting today I am on 16 hour shifts for the next 9 days.)

Temperature seems to be the hardest for me. These animals are still a bit stressed I think, and ignore their hides in favor of burrowing. I suspect it may be too cool for them in the critter room. I am skipping out on sleeping between shifts today to finish up their outdoor enclosure. That gives a month or so for me to get a proper permanent indoor enclosure built for them.

Currently temp is 70F constant @40% relative humidity. I built a photo sensor unit for their lighting. This way it is linked with daylight on time. I figure that will ease their transition to my standard indoor lighting scheme when they can no longer stay in their out door pen.

[adawinters]

I am in awe of both your toads and your photography skills.